The Legend of Korra: "The Southern Lights" Review

Looking for our review of the first part of The Legend of Korra’s one-hour premiere, “Rebel Spirit”? Click here.

Warning: Full spoilers from the episode to follow.

Now on her own, free from Tenzin’s watchful eye, Korra’s spiritual training began with a journey to the South Pole, accompanied by the not-so-merry band of Unaloq, Mako, Tonraq, Bolin and the twins. It was good to see that Korra wasn’t wasting any time in starting down her path as the Avatar — or at least what Unalaq believes her path should be.

More so than “Rebel Spirit,” “The Southern Lights” packed in a lot of backstory, particularly in regards to the spiritual state of the Southern Water Tribe, which fueled most of the conflict among Tonraq, Unalaq and Korra. These scenes were a bit slow-moving at first, with Unalaq verbally feeding Korra (and us) a ton of information about the Ever Storm, the ancient spirit portal, the Hundred Year War and the Southern Lights. Luckily, Bolin and Mako were there to break up the exposition with some humorous interplay. Bolin’s gear presentation was especially enjoyable, as was his quieted afterthought, “Did I interrupt a conversation?”